CPS chief chimes in on breakfast program

Brizard cites French toast in an inch of syrup as a problem

Once touted as the largest morning meal program of its kind, the controversial Breakfast in the Classroom mandate has found a new critic: Chicago Public Schools chief Jean-Claude Brizard, who has questioned some menu items and directed staff to remove syrup and sweets next year.

District officials also said Thursday that CPS will begin letting parents take their children out of the program.

Brizard, who started visiting classrooms across the city last week, said he saw students at Guggenheim Elementary School in Englewood eating "French toast with an inch of syrup."

"That bothered me," he said, as did the fact that breakfasts cut into class time. But he also hopes to share best practices from other schools doing "an amazing job" with the program.

As the new CPS administration evaluates health and wellness initiatives, parents continue to line up against the program, citing food allergies, waste, obesity and lost class time. Parents also said their wishes to opt kids out were not being honored.

"If you want to usurp my parental rights to feed my child, I really feel that I should hold you to a very high standard," said Meredith Crowley after cornering Mayor Rahm Emanuel and Brizard during a visit to South Loop Elementary School on Thursday. "I just don't think chocolate Frosted Mini-Wheats or Rice Krispies breakfast bars meet that standard."

Some parents who feed their kids breakfast at home tried to create permission slips to take their children out of the program. But under the previous administration, school officials told them they could not honor those parental directives.

"Teachers and staff are CPS employees and must comply with the policy. We cannot deny your child the food," the Bell Elementary School website stated when the mandatory program began.

"You can't have a 5-year-old choose," said Marie Mikel, whose daughter attends a North Side school where the principal said she will try to honor parental permission slips opting kids out. "A lot of children are enticed to take breakfast … when it's stuff they wouldn't normally eat at home."

But the new CPS administration has offered some hope to opponents of the program. Crowley said Brizard and the mayor listened attentively to concerns that had been dismissed by their predecessors.

CPS spokeswoman Becky Carroll said Thursday that Brizard has told staff to phase out unhealthy sweets from the breakfast rotation. And the new leadership, she said, will honor parents' wishes through permission slips.

CPS rolled out the breakfast program at about 200 grammar schools over the last few years before deciding in January to mandate it districtwide. Many parents, mostly from the North Side, started petitions — including one that garnered 1,500 signatures in three days — to delay the program until concerns were addressed.

Although the district initially said the meals would take 10 minutes, parents have reported times as long as 29 minutes.

Still, program supporters, who gathered their own 5,000 signatures, believe Breakfast in the Classroom helps feed needy students.

"This has broken down into a class issue," said Mark Bishop, a vice president at the nonprofit Healthy Schools Campaign. "Support for the program has been predominantly in the South and West sides in highly African-American and Hispanic communities."

Crowley says, though, that her citywide coalition represents an array of classes and races who want higher food standards and more parental and principal discretion among, other things.

While the district has touted the program as a child hunger relief effort, critics say it's about bringing money to a district facing a $720 million deficit. They note CPS estimates of $8.9 million in federal overpayments for the program this year, which can be used for other school meal expenses.